Out in the West Texas Town of . . . .

(click on image for closer view)

A scrapbook of El Paso, where I grew up as well as some other favorite spots.  Many people believe El Paso is small, western town with one main street, one hotel, one post office and one tumbleweed ;)  Last I read the U.S. Census says the population of El Paso was almost 700,000.  I was shocked, I thought there'd be more.

Picture starting from the top, LtoR:

• San Jacinto Plaza (downtown park) where alligators lived in a man-made pond.  Great attraction especially for us kids and yes, there were real alligators!
• An El Paso, TX postcard
• Cowboy boots - El Paso is the mecca of cowboy boots in my opinion and can you believe I still don't own a pair??
• The view of El Paso from Franklin Mountain's "Scenic Drive"  I love the view at night time!
• Skyline of El Paso Downtown, the city is about another 3 times bigger
• Home of UTEP Miners - the Sunbowl Stadium.  Miners are an FBS (DIV 1A) athletic program.  Seats over 50,000.
• The Plaza Theatre.  I remember going there during highschool to watch a reshowing of "Gone With the Wind".  It was captivating and so life like.  The only way to see the movie, in a big screen.
• The front view of my highschool, Austin High School.  Supreme Court Justice, Hon. Sandra Day O'Connor graduated from my highschool I believe in the mid-40's.
• 1966 NCAA Champions in Men's Basketball.  A movie was made about this team from Texas Western College (TWC)) because they were the first all African-American team that beat an all white team ( Univ. of Kentucky) for the  national championship.  The movie is "Glory Road"  TWC later became UTEP.
• Chicos Tacos is the first place all El Pasoans go to as soon as they arrive into town.  They have the best rolled tacos this side of the Pecos.
• First Baptist Church - at one time we lived only a block away from this church.  This is also where my hubby and I met :)
• Typical Spanish style home in El Paso. I miss seeing those
• Ft. Bliss, located in El Paso.  The GI population is a boost to El Paso economy.  If it weren't my hubby being stationed there, we would've never met!
• My favorite places to vacation growing up.  Cloudcroft and Ruidoso were full of pine trees, lakes and camp grounds.  I'll take them over the beach anytime.  Whitesands, is literally a playground of white sands for miles and miles and miles.  All sand no water and oughta be one of the 7 wonders of the world

So there you go, now you know a little bit about El Paso and the next time somebody mentions it being an old dusty, small Texas town, you can tell them otherwise.

• A Great blog and lots of pictures of El Paso and the desert southwest:  Texas Mountain Trail

• El Paso in Wikipedia

• Hubby's and my favorite movie, great chica-flic, watch it!  Fools Rush In

• Glory Road, the movie - Josh Lucas stars in it, that oughta make you wanna watch it ;)

Have a great rest of the week and remember to savor every moment!